Summary#
A-5703, “Revises training requirements for local housing authority officials,” would amend New Jersey’s 1992 Local Redevelopment and Housing Law. It would change training requirements for housing authority officials and require the Commissioner of Community Affairs to adopt implementing rules; its stated goal is to make training more flexible and set hours by housing authority size. The bill is introduced and is not law.
- The Commissioner must ensure required housing authority courses are offered on weekdays, at night, on weekends, and during summer months.
- The Commissioner, consulting Rutgers or other educational institutions, must update course material at least every three years.
- For housing authorities, annual training is capped at 10 hours for those managing or developing up to 300 units, and 20 hours for those responsible for 301 to 900 units. For authorities responsible for more than 900 units, the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) sets the hours, with a minimum of 20 annually.
- A housing authority member or executive director may apply in writing for a waiver of these annual-hour requirements. If DCA does not respond within 90 days, the waiver is automatically approved.
- Existing training completion deadlines and consequences for failing to complete training remain in the bill. The bill also requires the Commissioner to adopt rules, including rules on hours for the largest authorities and waiver applications.
What it means for you#
- Housing authority members and executive directors: The bill would set annual course-hour limits or minimums based on the authority’s size and add a way to request a waiver. The existing requirement to complete the prescribed course within the applicable deadline—and the stated consequence of being deemed to have resigned if training is not completed—would remain.
- Municipal redevelopment agency officials: The bill’s course provisions and existing completion rules include redevelopment agencies, but its new hours, waiver, course-scheduling, and update provisions refer to housing authorities. The text does not clearly extend those new requirements to redevelopment agency officials.
- DCA and the Commissioner: They would have to adopt rules. The Commissioner would also have to arrange the specified course schedules and updates for housing authority training.
- Residents and taxpayers: The bill does not directly change housing eligibility, rents, or housing services.
Money#
No publicly available information on costs, funding, or savings is provided.
- The bill assigns new duties to the Commissioner and DCA but gives no staffing or cost estimate.
- It does not specify who would pay for additional course offerings or course updates.
What is unclear#
- The bill does not clearly say whether the new training-hour limits, waivers, scheduling, and updates also apply to redevelopment agency officials.
- For authorities managing or developing 301 to 900 units, it sets a maximum of 20 annual hours but no minimum.
- For authorities above 900 units, DCA must set the required hours, but the bill does not set an upper limit.
- The waiver is described as a waiver of the new annual-hour requirements. The text does not explain whether it can waive other course requirements or what reasons qualify.
- The bill requires new rules but does not give a deadline for adopting them. It also does not explain how the new rules interact with existing rules.
- The parent Act was not supplied, so the current law and how these amendments fit with it could not be independently verified.
Case for#
- A possible argument for the bill is that offering courses at night, on weekends, and in summer could make training easier to attend.
- Setting annual hours by authority size could match training demands to the scale of the authority’s work.
- Updating material at least every three years could help keep the course current.
- A written waiver process with a 90-day response deadline gives officials a route to seek relief and prevents an unanswered application from remaining undecided indefinitely.
Case against#
- The bill does not clearly apply its new requirements consistently to redevelopment agency officials, even though other training provisions cover them.
- DCA would set hours for the largest authorities without a stated maximum, while smaller authorities have caps. That leaves a major part of the requirement to future rules.
- Automatic approval after 90 days could grant a waiver without a stated standard for deciding whether one is appropriate.
- New course schedules, updates, and rules may require public resources, but the bill provides no cost estimate or funding plan.